Billy Loomis

Billy Loomis is the boyfriend of the protagonist, Sidney Prescott, in the first of the 'Scream' movies. He and his friends live in Woodsboro, California and attend the local school, Woodsboro High.

He comes across as an intense character who may seem to see everything as a joke, yet he rarely laughs. Examples of this include when he almost gets Sidney into trouble after he unexpectedly climbs through her window, and when his friends make jokes about the recent murders. His intensity increases later in the film, when he displays a more threatening and almost aggressive side after a school friend accuses him of the attacks on the town's teenagers.

His love of the Horror genre is evident almost immediately, when he discusses with Sid how watching 'The Exorcist' made him think of their physical relationship, or lack of. This is also the first time he compares something about a film to real life, which we later see is a habit of his and a trait which defines his actions. We know from the discussion that the couple have been together for two years (prior to the first film), and began their relationship with a passion. Billy goes on to talk about how the intimate side of their relationship faded. He may be interpreted as a patient and caring boyfriend due to his usual acceptance of Sidney's intimacy issues; however, we recognise that he is obviously beginning to want more.

Billy becomes a suspect in the murders about a third of the way into the film, when he once again climbs through Sidney's window right after she is attacked by the killer. He drops a cell phone (mobile) and arouses the already spooked Sidney's suspicions. When the police arrive, they arrest Billy, but he is later released after the Sheriff discovers his phone records were clean.

After this, the couple's relationship remains on the rocks for a while. Although Sidney apologises, Billy seems more angered by the lack of physical intimacy in their relationship, and shows the insensitive side of his personality when he implies Sidney should now be over her mother's murder. Sidney later apologises for this as well and loses her virginity to Billy in what seems to be a romantic scene.

Shortly afterwards, Billy appears to get stabbed, but later reveals himself to be one of the two killers in the first film. His motive, he says, is Sidney's mother having had an affair with his father, which caused his own mother to leave town. We can assume he had a close relationship with his mother before this, as he refers to her leaving as "total abandonment", which he says can cause serious deviant behaviour. He and the other killer, Stu, also admit to having framed Cotton Weary, the man accused and sentenced of murdering Mrs Prescott. They plot to kill Sidney and to frame her father. To make it look as though Mr. Prescott has wounded them also, they stab each other. Billy stabs Stu repeatedly, to the point of being told to stop, which may suggest he isn't a trustworthy partner in crime. However, their plans are foiled by the combined efforts of Gale Weathers and Sidney, and Billy himself is killed by Sidney in self-defence.